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Saturday, 5 May 2012

Asian stocks rose, with a regional index advancing for the first time in five weeks, after Australiacut key interest rates by more than forecast and on signs manufacturing output in China and the U.S. is improving.

The dollar last traded down 0.4 percent at 79.86 yen, but against the Australian and New Zealand dollars it gained 0.8 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, as investors shed riskier currencies that are highly linked to global growth.

Oil tumbled 2.5 percent on Friday, with U.S. crude below $100 a barrel for the first time since February, as an abrupt slow-down in U.S. hiring soured economic sentiment and technical triggers intensified selling.

Gold has dropped $150 from a peak in late February after a strong run of U.S. data cast serious doubts over whether the Federal Reserve would launch a third round of government bond purchases, or quantitative easing, also known as QE3.

U.S. stocks extended losses on Friday as the Nasdaq fell 1 percent after the April payroll report came in well below expectations.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 89.16 points, or 0.68 percent, at 13,117.43. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 11.15 points, or 0.80 percent, at 1,380.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 35.47 points, or 1.17 percent, at 2,988.83.

U.S. government debt prices rose slightly on Thursday as data showing a bigger-than-expected pullback in growth in the U.S. services sector offset a surprisingly large drop in U.S. claims for jobless benefits.

On slightly below-average trading volume, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note US10YT=RR was up just 1/32 for the day, yielding 1.93 percent.

The euro was little changed at $1.3156, having bounced off the previous day’s two-week low after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Thursday gave no strong hints about the possibility of more monetary stimulus.